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Tannoy HTS 200: Review

Posted to Speakers 2009-05-30

The Tannoy HTS 200 series speakers is a surround sound experience that incorporates two towers, two satellites, a center and a nice subwoofer. The subwoofer is a bit underpowered and the woofers offered in the towers are small in comparison to other systems. The woofers come in at about 3 inches while comparative models have a tendency to pack 4.25 inch woofers in. The result is a slightly underwhelming sound but it is pleasing to the ears.

My concern is mainly about the Tannoy HTS 200 is the manner in which the subwoofer is configured. You can play with the settings, but only so much and really tweaking only offers marginally better responses. The 8 inch cone woofer is underpowered at 100 watts and the effect is something of a strange booming rather than a nice smooth sound. It is probably not an ideal setup for true audiophiles. The rear satellite speakers are small as well which can make the transition from front to back a distraction.

Rating:

3.2 out of 5

Quality

The Tannoy system looks like a solid quality product as soon as you pull it out of the box. The two towers are slender and nicely configured while the satellites, sub and center all meld together nicely. Sadly I can't say that the quality of this product is superior, if anything it's average at best. The speakers in the towers are smaller than what you would expect from a surround sound system. The sub is also underpowered and the center doesn't offer a whole lot of customizable options.

Ergonomics

The Tannoy HTS 200 series attempts to combine good looks with great sound. The cherry finish on all of the pieces is nice but can be hard to match to your decor. I don't know what has happened in the last few years but wood is back in a big way. I would have preferred to see these done in a great espresso finish, but that is all personal preference. There are a lot of components to the HTS 200 experience and while you would assume the 6 different components would take up a lot of room Tannoy has done their best to keep things slim and I appreciate that. This system would work well in a small media room or living room and probably would perform best in a smaller space as well because of the petite speaker size and underpowered subwoofer. The slender size has been carried out in the weight of the products as well and they are hardly heavy enough to be uncomfortable for anyone to move, even a tiny person. The size and weight (only 12 pounds per tower) of the speakers also make moving things around real simple and for someone who believes in frequent furniture/electronics rearrangements than this is probably the perfect surround sound experience. I'm a person who changes things up pretty often and my least favorite part of the process is lugging around heavy equipment. These are no trouble to move around and hook back up.

Summary

The Tannoy HTS 200 is a surround sound experience really intended for people who want a decent system in a small room. Tannoy has left out most of the fuss so you can just throw these speaker together and get to listening. That is both good and bad and those who are really into sound probably notice that the sound can be underwhelming for the price. I think Tannoy made a smart looking system with nice styling. It appears as though Tannoy aimed for all looks without substance to back it up.

Pros

Small and lightweight towers make moving easy
Decent sound for smaller rooms

Cons

Cherry finish (may be harder to match decor)
Subwoofer is lacking range
Not a fuller sound for the price